Apex Legends’ Season 8 release date will mark the first update of 2021 for Respawn Entertainment’s battle royale, leaving players wondering when they might get a new playable Legend, arsenal refresh and other such changes.
Apex Legends’ seasons have routinely brought new Battle Passes and quite significant map changes, morphing the terrain to provide new challenges. Season 8 will likely do the same when its start date comes around. But while both EA and Respawn remain tight-lipped about when it might begin, we can make a somewhat accurate guess.
Apex Legends Season 8 Release Date
Apex Legends Season 7 is currently in full swing, having brought the first major change to how the Battle Pass works alongside a whole new map called Olympus. With the in-game timer pointing at February 1 as its end date and official confirmation from EA and Respawn Entertainment, we now know what the Season 8 release date is.
The vast majority of Apex Legends seasons in recent memory have started on the same date as prior ones ended. Only Seasons 4 and 6 kicked off one day later, which itself is a more than reasonable waiting period. Season 8 joins them, having locked down its start date to February 2.
Naturally, unexpected delays might occur, but even if the next big content drop comes later than expected, we’ll likely see some form of event kicking off at the start of Feburary, given its proximity to the battle royale’s second anniversary.
Apex Legends Season 8 New Character: Fuse
Hailing from Salvo, Fuse is described as “a blow-up-first ask-questions-later kinda guy,” which isn’t all that surprising given the massive rocket launcher he’s seen wielding.
His love for adventure, bar brawls and explosives is also shown in the Stories from the Outlands video that establishes his backstory. Giving symbolic meaning to a golden grenade he and his childhood friend find on the corpse of a Salvo freedom fighter, the video – which you can watch below – follows their relationship throughout the years leading up to his joining the Apex games.
Apex Legends Season 8 New Weapon: The 30-30 Repeater
Just like its newest champion, Apex Legends’ newest gun also hails from Salvo, where it secured the title of “most popular weapon” for itself. It might look a bit more traditional than the rest of the battle royale’s arsenal, but this “lever-action rifle picks apart the opposition with hard-hitting rounds,” according to the game’s website.
Apex Legends Season 8 Map Changes
Kings Canyon is getting obliterated in Season 8, which is fitting for a season named Mayhem. “Fuse’s entrance has dramatically reshaped Kings Canyon,” says the official Apex Legends website. We now know that the goals for this reshaping involve telling a season-long story, expanding the map’s playable area, and shaking up gameplay overall.
Fuse’s crashed ship is to blame for opening a new playable area and changing aspects of existing ones. Easily spotted because of its ever-present trail of smoke, it acts as “a tall, King of the Hill power position with multiple ramps and scaffolds surrounding it to create a jungle gym of interesting gameplay.” The ECHO Stations on both side provide “plenty of breathing space and loot” for anyone planning to take control of them.
Artillery has received a back door leading to this new location, while the tunnel east of it not only leads to Contamination but now also “allows for a rotation from the North.” Slum Lakes has become Spotted Lakes, an area with ECHO camps and “a huge Filtration Dam” that struggles to reverse the contamination resulting from Fuse’s entrance.
As you battle your way across Kings Canyon, you’ll find a new pathway marked by large Leviathan bones that lets you easily access Runoff. The three newly added ECHO outposts located along the rivers can turn into chokepoints during combat.
The four observation towers found in ECHO Camps can be raised and use as vantage points, provided their sound doesn’t attract opponents skilled or numerous enough to take you down first.
Mobile armories filled with loot are also now scattered across the map. The spoils go to the first team that blows up their doors using a frag, thermite or arc star. As of Season 8, the Farm is no longer a part of Kings Canyon while the explosion from Fuse’s ship has also caved the bunkers introduced during Season 5.
Apex Legends Season 8 Ranked Changes
Apex Legends’ Season 8 Ranked changes aim to provide fairer matches across the board and increases the amount of RP gained, in an effort to improve the matchmaking for the Diamond, Master and Predator tiers. To this effect, RP rewards now begin at placement 13. You also earn RP for more of your kills and assists within a match, since their count is increased to 6.
The time threshold to score an assist has been increased to 10 seconds from 7.5 seconds. Predator tier will now include the top 750 Apex Legends players while those below Diamond tier will find themselves more often paired up with peers of a similar rank. The Diamond Skydive Trails also return as a Ranked reward.
Season 8’s first split takes players to the new version of Kings Canyon and ends on March 23. The second split will focus on Olympus until the end of the season while World’s Edge takes a well-deserved break.
We’ll keep our eyes peeled and update this article with any new details about the Apex Legends Season 8 release date, character, and changes as soon as we spot them.
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